Kill the Delaware Way [Updated x 2]

Governor John Carney spent most of his Inaugural Speech talking about working together. The seeking of bipartisan solutions has been the ethos of Senator Tom Carper’s career so much so that it seems he believes no solution is valid and no position tenable unless it was reached through bipartisan consensus. And the Delaware Democratic Party had adopted that guiding philosophy, if it can be called that, as its own over the last 20 years. Because they believed that that was the key to winning elections and the path for appropriate governing in this state.

It may have been true once. Back in the halcyon days where Democrats really were more conservative and Republicans really were more moderate.

It is not true anymore.

To win elections in this state, whether it is a special election on February 25, 2017, or a midterm election in 2018, or a presidential election in 2020, you will have to turn out your voters. Your base. There is no moderate middle to turn out. If they exist at all, they tend to follow the lead of the more excited base, and that only happens in presidential years. And your base will not turn out if it is dispirited, if they don’t think the Democratic nominee is going to fight for what they, the base, believe in. And they better believe in liberal and progressive ideals. If all they believe in is bipartisan solutions and the Delaware Way, they will stay home.

The Democratic voter does not want the people we vote for to work with Republicans for watered down compromises anymore. We want the Republicans destroyed. Why? Because they are not the Delaware Republicans of old. They have adopted the racist obstructionist lying ways of their national counterparts. Look at Senator DelCollo’s race against Patti Blevins, where he lied to union voters, telling them that he was with them. Look at GOP Senate Caucus’ actions in blocking Governor Carney’s nominee, Shawn Garvin, to lead DNREC, blocking him simply because he was part of President Obama’s EPA.

The turning out the base strategy is one that works best for Republicans, because they, their base and their elected officials, do not care about governing. They want to destroy government as it has come to be known in the 20th and 21st centuries. Social Safety net? They want it gone. Equal rights? Only for those that deserve it they say, and the people that deserve it are only themselves, white conservatives. Protect the environment? Not if a single dollar can be made off destroying it. They believe healthcare and education are privileges that should only be afforded to those who can pay. If you cannot pay for an education, you don’t get one. If you cannot pay for healthcare and health insurance, you suffer your fate and die. Workplace safety regulations? Not if a single dollar of profit is lost. Higher wages? No, workers will be paid what the owners want to pay, the lower the better because it increases the profit. Consumer protections? No, the burden is on the buyer to beware, not on the company to make safe products.

There can be no compromise and no peace with a political party that believes all these things. All you can do is defeat them and to keep them out of government. They are a cancer. And you kill cancer cells. You cut them out of your body. You nuke them with radiation and chemotherapy. You don’t sit down and seek bipartisan solutions between benign and malignant cells.

Yet still, because Democratic elected officials care about governing, their natural and first inclination is to seek compromise. The Democratic base has been woken up to the truth for a long time that compromise with any Republican anywhere is not possible and no longer a honorable goal. We have been waiting for our Democratic officials to be woken up too.

Finally, that might be happening.

Maybe they were forced awake due to the DelCollo victory and Garvin obstruction. But that awakening was on display yesterday at the fundraiser for Stephanie Hansen at the Burris Lodge in Middletown. It was a packed standing room only sized crowd. I can’t guess numbers, but if you are familiar with the Burris Lodge, then you know when I tell you that cars were lined up all the way out past the duck blind to the pitt road.

It was the first time I had seen or heard Stephanie speak in person, and I was impressed. She did not speak of seeking bipartisan solutions. She did not talk about working together with Republicans. She was not reaching out to Republican voters. In fact, when she did discuss Republican voters in the district, she told us her experiences of talking with them and how hateful their desires are, she said aid that the Republican voter wants to stop taking care of “them.” The mysterious other that is not like them.

[Editor’s Note: Having reviewed a recording of Stephanie’s speech, she did not say anything about Republican voters being hateful. I was wrong to paraphrase it this way. What she said was that some Republican extremists “have a very different view of the world right now.”

“They are saying things and thinking things and justifying things that just a short time ago people would have never thought of to leave their mouths. They believe that they are justified in their exclusivity. They believe that they are justified in excluding people; in building walls. Here is one of the big things that they are saying: ‘I’m tired of taking care of all those people. We don’t need to take care of all those people. And I will never have another Democratic sign in my yard again.’ Guess who those people are? They are all of us. They are talking about minorities, the disabled, the elderly, and my union friends here, they are talking about you. Make no mistake about it, they think you have gotten a sweet deal.”

Now, I find that kind of outlook hateful, which is why I described it that way.

She went full tilt on being a fighter for the Democratic values message, and attacking the hate from the Republicans. And so too did other speakers, namely, State Senators Bruce Ennis, David Sokola, Dave McBride, and Nicole Poore. So too did Lt. Governor Bethany Hall Long. So too Representatives Bill Carson and Ed Osienski (don’t worry Stephanie, I mispronounce his name all the time too).

It may have been the first time that I left a political event in Delaware more hopeful than ever that the Delaware Way is dead. Or if not dead, in the ICU on life support. Pull the pug, Dems. Become fighting Democrats.

Tomorrow, I will focus on how the Delaware General Assembly itself can become fighting Democrats.

[Prior Editor Note: Some other attendees at the Fundraiser, specifically LiberalGeek and Puck, are disputing the following sentence: “she told us her experiences of talking with them and how hateful their desires are.” They say the word hate or hateful did come out of her mouth when discussing Republican voters. I wish I had a recording but I don’t. Regardless, I was not exactly quoting her word for word, and more paraphrasing her message anyway. So I will stand by the message she was saying, rather than the exact words. But keep in mind other attendees disagree.]

Here is Puck’s comment from Delaware Liberal: “I was at Hansen’s fundraiser this Saturday. She and a number of Dem elected officials spoke to a partisan crowd of Democrats, and I didn’t once hear the word “hateful” or anything similar.”

Here is LiberalGeek’s: “I agree with Puck, the word “hateful” didn’t come out of her mouth. And when she talked about meeting Republicans, she certainly didn’t lump them all into one category. Certainly she said that some people had said that [that Republican voters she had talked to no longer wanted to take care of “Them”]. I know she didn’t say that was the case for all Republicans in the district. There are definitely some people that have an anger toward “them” (poor people, government employees, foreigners, etc). I think she attributed that to fear, rather than hate.”

Fundamental agreement, real moderates are few and far between, way past time to restore the party to it’s roots of the New Deal. Same for the Republicans, they are radicals and not worth dealing with. To “the Dealware Way” I would add Carney’s beloved “Third Way”, nothing more than a cover story for DINOS like Carney and Carper.

When John Carney says he wants to work together, he means he wants input from Democrats and Republicans. Last time I checked, Republicans and Democrats in DE both paid taxes. If you’d like to fund the government all on your own, be my guest. However, until those with Conservative leanings don’t have to help foot the bill of your beloved democrats frivolous and careless spending, republicans will not be shutting up at your request. Secondly, maybe they blocked Shawn Garvin because the EPA under Obama has become highly corrupt and politicized. Since when were government agencies supposed to place their political leanings over telling the truth? Maybe you should be more willing to compromise seeing as the right to “affordable” health care you mentioned above, has failed. Democrats have ruled DE for about 40 years and it is one of the most corrupt states in America. Coincidence? I think not. Maybe those republicans won because they acknowledged the terrible conditions that so many Democrats have perpetuated. By failing to acknowledge the corruption in your party, you only serve the Republican party. Your hateful rhetoric and refusal to acknowledge the good things that the Republican party has to offer, only jeopardizes your movement. Lastly, you say “the base” of the Republican party does not care about governing. You could not be any more wrong. We care about good governance. Governance that makes decisions with EVERYONE in mind. I have watched my love ones labor tirelessly due to the causes you believe in and not once did I question the character or intentions of the left. If you want a fight, you’ve got one. The left’s days of bullying the right into silence are long over.

I would submit to you that part of the reason we are in the state we are in at the moment, both in Delaware and nationally, is because in recent history the exact opposite of what you suggest has happened. When Republicans are in power we get Republican policies. AND when Democrats are in power we still get Republican policies, because Republicans stand up and insist on it. They literally will not allow anything to proceed unless they get their say. Look at what is going on in D.C. at the moment. Trump lost the election by 3 million votes while winning the Electoral College. While under our system that gave him the win, what it did not give him was a mandate. Yet he is trying to govern as if that is exactly what he has. Democrats, on the other hand, try to reach across the aisle even when they do have a mandate, and they usually bring that hand back bitten and bloodied.

Ahh, reverse psychology and the old childish “I know you are but what am I” tantrum. You must think we are all so stupid to believe your bullshit. Frankly, its ‘Alternative Facts’ Neoconservatives like you who are the easiest to call out for their BS, as most of us have caught on to your old tired worn out childish arguments long ago.

Ahh, reverse psychology and the old childish “I know you are but what am I” tantrum. You must think we are all so stupid to believe your bullshit. Frankly, its ‘Alternative Facts’ Neoconservatives like you who are the easiest to call out for their BS, as most of us have caught on to your old tired worn out childish arguments long ago.

Ahh, reverse psychology and the old childish “I know you are but what am I” tantrum. You must think we are all so stupid to believe your bullshit. Frankly, its ‘Alternative Facts’ Neoconservatives like you who are the easiest to call out for their BS, as most of us have caught on to your old tired worn out childish arguments long ago.

Furthermore, those regulations on businesses you mention above have single handedly destroyed small businesses. Seeing as small business is the number one job provider in this country, exactly how will destroying them do any good for DE? Look at the statistics. Business start up during the Obama administration was terrible. Look at the facts and turn off CNN.

Instead of TELLING people they need to turn off CNN, maybe check your ‘alternative facts’ first. You will find that since Barack Obama first took office:
“The economy has added nearly 7.9 million jobs, and the unemployment rate is now lower than the historical median.
Business establishment start-ups have increased by 20 percent, and the number of job openings is the highest in more than 14 years.
The purchasing power of weekly paychecks is up 2.6 percent, despite some recent slippage.
Nevertheless, the number of people receiving food stamps is still 43 percent higher than when Obama was first sworn in, despite recent declines.
And the home ownership rate has continued to decline, to the lowest point in over a quarter century.
U.S. oil production is up 94 percent. Wind and solar power are up 252 percent. U.S. dependency on oil imports is down to the lowest point since the 1970s.”

That is absolutely ridiculous. How about you turn off Fox and Brietbart and look at the facts. Regulations have not destroyed small business anywhere. That is just a Republican talking point. The real facts, as opposed to the Republican Alternative Facts, are as follows:

As of 2015, new small business start ups are up 20% under the Obama Administration. Meanwhile the number of business establishments shutting down permanently — business “deaths” — has gone down by just over 20 percent.

So the constituents who are repubkican don’t get a say if there’s a Republican majority in the Senate? I thought our elected officials were supposed to consider the concerns of all constituents. I guess democrats are supposed to ignore the people who pay their salary? Aka citizens who are both Republican and Democrats. Furthermore, why did 4/10 small businesses freeze hiring due to Obama care? Why did 1/5 report cutting down their number of workers. It’s strange that Obamas fans like to quote the millions of jobs he helped produced yet fail to mention that they’re all service jobs. Not jobs with benefits. Not jobs with a salary that produces a better quality of life. Not jobs with any growth potential. Also, I don’t watch fix news. I prefer reading and researching over relying on a mainstream media. I come to conclusions after assessing the facts and listening to sick&tired citizens. I don’t rely on the media or politicians. I can think for myself. With all due respect, you should do the same.

That depends on how valid or legitimate your concern is. If its “All environmental regulations kill businesses, so we must get rid of all environmental regulations” then yes, your concerns will be ignored and rightly so.

The contemporary Republican Party, locally as well as nationally, have proven conclusively that they are willing to lie, distort reality and turn their Party and our country over to an clearly mentally ill and deeply character flawed person and his racist supporters in order to maintain power. They are willing to undermine our republican democracy, damage our economy and do irreparable harm to our only recently partially rehabilitated international reputation destroyed by the Bush administration. They are willing to sacrifice people’s health, their education, civic participation and potential for improving their lives in order to hold onto that power. Reaching “across the aisle” in bipartisanship is not only completely irrational, it is suicidal. These people are fascists.

DD, Let me do a thing here: Don’t, under any circumstances, back down. It’s not about an election–in the greater scheme of things if John Marino wins this election the Delaware Way will still inevitably prevail. Like all wannabes, no matter how hard he campaigns against the gravy train, he wants one.

But it’s far bigger than that. It’s about actually watching other Democrats attempt (oh so rationally and with thoughtful expressions) to tone police their own … because they fear that Marino will benefit from the Trump playbook. Here’s the thing–he WILL benefit from the Trump playbook. If you or Stephanie Hansen apologize it will be played as weakness; if you don’t, it’s arrogance. At this point it is better to be crucified for arrogance than lulled into slavery through weakness.

This is not a normal time. We aren’t through by a long shot taking the worst shots of the Trump Revolution, and it is not time to throttle back. I don’t even care, quite frankly, if it was intentional hyperbole and you know damn well you didn’t hear it. I. Literally. Don’t. Care.

In the days of the much less malign Dubya (never thought I’d write those words), jason used to say repeatedly, “Never bring a knife to a gunfight.” He’s stopped saying that. That worries me. You are not responsible for the outcome of this election; you are only responsible at this point for rabble-rousing.

I end with a quote from Robert Heinlein (I know, not a favorite of progressives, but he’d be fighting Trump right now):

“It may be better to be a live jackal than a dead lion, but it is better still to be a live lion. And usually easier.”

s/ wow! great job everybody reads reactions
just go to bluedelaware and read it /s

I volunteered a week ago to work on her campaign
read your post and the pres statement
got home from work message on machine from campaign and had to think about it (if I should bother)
wound up calling back and volunteering

I recruited 4 people outside of her district to knock doors this weekend, three of based purely on the Garvin vote and the other coming off the excitement of the Newark March. People were sleeping in 2016 and it sucks, but maybe this what we needed to bring people to (back?) the Democratic party?

I agree, and have been saying for years Democrats have to get into the trenches with their political enemies in the GOP if they want to win. Compromise is only holding Dems back when it comes to the Neoconservative Movement, that actually started in 1994 with Newt’s Contract on America. Democrats are long overdue for changing their attitude about politics and learning to FIGHT for want they want. Now that the GOP has a NAZI leader, Democrats can no longer afford to take the easy way. Political War is upon us. We must put down the pencils and take up political arms against a political party bent on destroying America s we know it!

The Republican Party I grew up with died when GWB catered, and subsequently pandered, to the Christian Coalition. From that point on its message and platform have been one of wealth-building for their big donors. If a policy can turn a profit, they’re all in.

Sadly, the majority of Republiklan voters today are completely, shamefully, willfully ignorant of objective fact. You can provide every bit of data proving Republican fiscal policy has been / is / will be detrimental to the country, and they scream, “Liberal media bias”. Show them overwhelming evidence that more strict gun control measures decrease gun-related deaths, it’s “2nd Amendment”. I could go on and on and on, but it doesn’t matter.

Republiklan Conservatism is no longer political to many of their base – it’s their religion. As such, any comment, any data point, any constructive criticism, Hell, any offer to work together on a compromise is an attack on their belief system. Fox News, Breitbart, and the rest of the Republiklan propaganda machine have become Bible-like. The “truth” that comes from those sources is unassailable, just as are the truths in the Bible.

Delaware is a fairly well-wishers state, which is why we’ve been Blue for as long as we have. Many of our residents have the ability to apply logic to situations, to question what we’re told and educate ourselves when we don’t understand. We reject Republiklan principles because we are smart enough to see through the rhetoric and smell the BS for what it is.

As for Democratic bashing of Republiklans, that is the most ludicrous, outrageous statement I’ve ever heard. Were all of you in a coma from ’08-’16? The foolishness and hypocrisy is deafening…

By misrepresenting Hansen’s comments st that fundraiser you have really hurt her. As an alt-journalist (you are too irresponsible to be considered a real journalist) what were you thinking? Seriously? You put words in her mouth that weren’t said, and now Marino is having a field day with it. You should be permanently barred from publishing ANYTHING

A field day? If that is what you call deleting your post using us to accuse Hansen of whatever Marino was trying to accuse her of. That Friends of John Marino post was deleted today, in large part because it was WRONG and also because it demonstrated that his commitment to this thing isn’t very deep.

Debra, my mistake was not including Stephanie’s words first. I was not wrong to describe what Republicans want as hateful. Regardless, once I clarified the post, Marino took down his post linking to his story. Why? Because perhaps other middle of the road people will find themselves agreeing with what Stephanie actually said. So have some courage, Debra, and if someone actually brings this up to you, repeat Stephanie’s words as I have quoted them here and ask them if they think that is hateful. I hope you do. I do. All Democrats do. Because we believe in inclusion and tolerance and equal rights. It is time we all stand up and fight for those values rather than cower in the corner scared about what the Republicans are doing.